


do spiders sink or swim?

by HouseByTheLake



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Deaf Clint Barton, Hurt Peter Parker, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Rating May Change, Sam Wilson is the mom friend, Teen Peter Parker, The Raft Prison (Marvel), clint barton is the weird but cool uncle, peter parker is having a bad time, scott lang is the sweet dad friend, this fic will contain light torture, this fic will contain major torture/graphic depictions with warnings beforehand, wanda maximoff is the cool older sister
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23902567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseByTheLake/pseuds/HouseByTheLake
Summary: “He knew that his vigilantism would get the best of him someday; he just didn’t know how or when...”Peter starts trying to fit into society as a regular teen again after Germany. He finds that while being an Avenger would have its perks, being a local, friendly neighborhood Spiderman is just as needed. Peter knows that he was in over his head and had tried to keep his vigilante identity on the down low... or at least he had thought before Ross showed up at his school, holding an arrest warrant with his name on it.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi, op here. will be deleting this later and ignore if you don't care about op's posting regime lol  
> i'm still on hiatus but i've had this fic sitting for a while so i thought i'd post it. the updates for this will not be for a while (im guessing a month? maybe longer?) and, currently, i have a week left of my online school before im free (thank gods bc my executive dysfunction is killing me) and hopefully ill be able to work on my fics within the next two weeks! thanks for reading!

Peter knew that his vigilantism would get the best of him someday; he just didn’t know when and how. 

Peter tried to not think about the day he fought with the Avengers, or against them considering the rogue Avengers were still Avengers. And they were still avengers, in his mind at least. They had saved countless people a countless number of times. It’s not like he regretted helping Tony; if he was granted a chance to go back in time to change his answer, he wouldn’t. If he did actually go back in time, though, he definitely would have left himself out of the conflict. It’s not like he was an Avenger and he also didn’t agree with the Accords, that’s for sure.

Sitting in his last class of the day before the weekend, Peter is texting his friends about the movie they were going to watch that night. They always had a hard time deciding on a movie; Ned always wants a scifi-action film or rom-com, no inbetween, and MJ either wants a crappy B-movie to make fun of or a romantic drama. Peter is always left to decide yet he sucks at making decisions like that. When he’s fighting, those decisions are easy since his reflexes basically make the decisions for him. Picking out a movie? Not so easy, especially when he doesn’t care about the movie so much as the company he has when watching it. They usually ended up watching a shitty action rom-com, just to appease everyone; there were surprisingly a lot of “shitty action rom-com”s. 

Peter looks up from his phone when someone from the office comes in and hurriedly talks to the teacher. Peter goes to look down at his phone again when his spidey-sense starts getting intense. He whips his head up and looks around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. Peter scratches the back of his neck, his nervous tick cementing itself as his spidey-sense starts basically screaming, “RUN! RUN!”.

Getting up and trying to quickly make it to the front so he can ask to go to the bathroom, Peter only makes it past the front row of desks before the classroom door is slammed open and several military personnel let themselves in. Peter is frozen, his head starting to hurt from the constant buzzing, and his teacher looks just as shocked. As the military personnel survey the room, guns up, a man with greying hair and a very generic mustache walks in. “We are looking for a Peter B. Parker,” the man says with an emotionless, almost bored, expression pointed at the teacher and office aid. The teacher glances at Peter, who was starting to back up towards the windows, and then back at the man. “And who would-”, before the teacher could finish her sentence and before Peter could turn to make a run for it, the military personnel train their guns onto Peter. Peter, who is a little dazed considering his growing migraine, just raises his arms up and pauses any movement he would have made due to having a gun trained on him. The man looks at Peter, his blank expression turning into fascination. If Peter wasn’t already freaked out about the situation, the man’s eyes looked like they wanted to dissect him -- his spidey-sense didn’t need to tell him that this guy was bad news. “You are Peter Parker, right.” the man says, though it wasn’t phrased like a question. The man smiles, adjusts his cuffs of his cheap suit, and announces, “Well, Peter Parker, I’m Thaddeus Ross, Secretary of State. You are under arrest for violating the Sokovia Accords.You will be detained without trial, being put into effect immediately.” Ross’s smile broadens as he motions for Peter to be detained, Peter’s fear starting to show on his face. 

Peter’s thoughts were going too fast (‘What about May?’ ‘Does MJ and Ned know about this?’ ‘Where’s Tony? He said that Peter didn’t have to sign. That he was going to protect him.’ ‘Everyone in this classroom knows he’s enhanced now.’) and his migraine made it impossible to dodge the first guy as he tries to manhandle Peter’s arm behind his back. Unconsciously, Peter grabs the man and flips him over, starting to back up towards the windows. Everyone who was sitting in the first few rows scramble to the back of the classroom. Peter heard two clicks and the buzz of electricity, turning his head to look at Ross. “Ah, little spider. You shouldn’t fight us. It won’t end well. I mean, we know where your dear Aunt lives. What was her name? May Parker?” Ross pauses and smiles, coming closer to Peter, who had to keep himself from backing up. “You guys live right next to that lovely sandwich shop on the corner, right?” Peter’s harsh breaths stop immediately, like the air was ripped from his lungs. His wide eyes find Ross’s, who was smiling down at him like he was having the best time of his life.

Peter clenches his teeth, trying to think about asking any of his many questions. As he opens his mouth, he feels something impede itself into his shoulder. Before he could look down to see what it was, a blinding and pulsating pain comes from his shoulder and envelopes his whole body. He’s on the ground instantly, biting back shouts of pain and ending up with anguished grunts. After a few minutes, still shaking with the aftershocks of the tazing, Peter opens his eyes as he is being hauled to his feet, seeing the vibranium cuffs on his wrists. His stomach drops after he realizes that this was all real; that he was being led to a high-security prison without a trial and without seeing his Aunt one last time -- that he can’t tell her how much he loves her. The vibranium cuffs were quickly sapping him from any of his energy; Peter didn’t know if he felt dizzy and nauseous because he was shocked with over 10,000 volts of electricity or because of the cuffs but he was having trouble standing, much less walking. Peter was dragged from the classroom, the teacher and the students looking on in shock and fear. The cuffs were starting to feel like lead on his hands, all of his limbs going limp. Peter tried to keep his eyes open but the last thing he saw was the inside of a black van as he was being shoved inside.

—————

If Peter was being honest with himself, he was scared; he was absolutely terrified. He didn’t know what the Raft had in store for him. The Raft was a high-tech, state-of-the-art prison designed to keep superhumans in, with no hope of getting out. Peter was still sluggish after having the vibranium cuffs plus the collar on. Honestly, it was overkill having both but gotta have the matching set, right? Peter stumbles out of the elevator (‘Did they go up or down?’ Peter thinks to himself) and the guards shove him down the hall. He keeps his eyes towards the ground, the lights seeming to get brighter the more labored his breathing gets. 

Peter gets pulled all the way to a cell, though it’s more like a clear plastic box. All walls, except the back one, were made of a clear, bulletproof glass and plastic mixture (‘Guess privacy is definitely a no in here, huh’). The ceiling, floor, and back wall were a light gray cement. As Peter is shoved into the room, he trips over his feet but rights himself with superhuman grace. Looking around groggily, Peter takes in his new surroundings. He notes the metal bed frame drilled into the cement floor and cement wall in the far left corner; a small metal basin and sink on the right end of the cement wall (‘Lovely, good thing they were consistent about the no-privacy thing’). Shaking his head lightly, Peter was able to snap out of his dazed state enough to make out the several voices around him. 

Looking up to the right, Peter sees a man with a concerned look on his face; he looks awfully familiar but in his exhausted and sapped state, he is unable to recall him until he hears his voice. “Hey kid, you okay? You good? You seem a little out of it.” the man says, getting up and coming closer to the clear wall. Suddenly, Peter’s eyes get wide with realization, he recognizes him; he’s the Falcon. Looking around quickly, he sees Hawkeye across from the Falcon, sitting in the middle of his cell with legs and arms crossed with an unreadable expression; a man who looks somewhat familiar across from his own cell, who was sitting on his bed and back against the cement wall, looking at Peter with a friendly smile; and next to Peter’s other side was the Scarlet Witch, who was sitting on the floor like she had just gotten up from laying on it. He could see that the Scarlet Witch also had vibranium cuffs and a collar; unconsciously, Peter’s hands went up to his own collar. “Seriously, they bringing kids in here now? God, I’m going to make sure these fuckers get what’s coming to them,” Hawkeye says, catching his eyes on Peter’s vibranium accessories before looking away. “Hey kid.” Peter looks to the Falcon, who was trying to catch his attention. “You feel okay? You seemed a little out of it. What’s your name?” he asks gently, sitting down in front of the wall that was shared with Peter’s. 

It takes a second for Peter’s brain to actually process what he said considering the throbbing from his constant spidey-sense going off. He nods his head up and down, looking away from the man so he could slowly make his way to his bed and plop his body down. God, was he tired; these vibranium accessories were sapping all of his energy and he also hasn’t eaten in… 2 days? Peter couldn’t even remember what day it was at this point. Peter leans against the cool cement wall, sighing and bringing his legs up to his chest. After a minute of silence, Peter quietly says, “I’m as okay as I can be in prison…”, pausing and shifting slightly, uncomfortable on the worst excuse for a bed. “I’m just kind of nauseous from the vibranium cuffs and-”, Peter stops himself from saying ‘collar’ because it honestly disgusts himself enough that bile rises in his throat. Luckily, Peter didn’t have to finish because the voice of the man across from him pipes up, “Hey, I’ve heard your voice before…” He looks like he’s thinking hard, his hand moving to his chin and eyebrows furrowed until his eyes rise up and he points to Peter, “Hey! You’re that spandex kid from our fight against Iron Man!” Before the guy could continue, Hawkeye cuts him off with squinting eyes, “Wait, how did you get in here? You’re on Tin Can’s side, aren’t you?” 

Peter opens his eyes at this, looking at the suspicious man as best he can with the bright lights blurring his sight. “Uh.. yeah. Sorry about that.” He tries to smile but it turns into a grimace when the pain behind his eyes sharpens. “I- I didn’t sign the Accords and I didn’t let R-Ross put me in a lab to get dissected.” Peter shrugs his shoulders and looks down at his legs and hides his face in his knees. “I-I am sorry, by the way. I didn’t… I didn’t really know what I was fighting for, if I’m being honest.” His breath came out shaky; wrapping his arms around his legs and trying to prevent himself from crying. That’d be embarrassing to do in front of his new ‘pals’. “Mr. Stark just asked me and I didn’t want to d-dissappoint him…” Peter gets quiet towards the end, letting the silence surround him. 

The silence continues until the Falcon talks again, voice still soft, “You didn’t say what your name was, kid. Though, we should introduce ourselves first, huh? Assuming you don’t already know who we are.” Peter looks up at him, with watery eyes. He smiles, “I’m Sam. The smelly guy across from me is Clint.”, pointing at Hawkeye. He points at the guy across from Peter’s cell, who waves with his friendly smile still on his face. “That’s Scott. Yes, he is always smiling. I don’t know how either. And that’s Wanda. Her talent is actually being able to nap anywhere and at any time.” Sam points lastly to the girl on Peter’s right side, his eyes drifting to her from Scott. She nods her head towards him, a small smile on her face before she wipes it so she can go back to her regular, expressionless face. Peter smiles softly back, trying to wipe his eyes in a low-key way. He looks back at the cement floor, in a soft voice, “I’m Peter...” There was a chorus of ‘Nice to meet you, Peter’ and other welcomes. 

Scott clears his throat after everyone gets silent, “So, how old are you, Peter?” Quickly, he adds, “Not that you have to answer or anything but you seem kind of young…” Scott lets himself trail off as Peter’s eyes meet his, “Uh, it’s fine…” Peter clears his throat uncomfortably, “Um… I actually just turned 16…” Peter doesn’t know why he’s telling them everything about himself… actually, he does. He knows exactly why: when he was dragged out of his school, he knows that at this point everyone knew his identity. It doesn’t matter anymore. Everyone knows that he’s Spider-man and now all his enemies are going to know about Aunt May. Now they’ll know about Ned and MJ. He can’t even keep them safe now, since he’s stuck in this stupid cell and he won’t even know if they are hurt or dead. They won’t know if he was hurt or dead. 

Peter hadn’t even realized he was breathing heavily, starting to hyperventilate, until Sam spoke up, “Hey kid! Peter, you need to breathe. Look at me. Look at me, kid.” Peter finally looked up at the man; he was up against the glass wall, concern in his eyes and gesturing to the deep breaths he was taking. Peter nods his head, still breathing heavily but trying to focus on Sam’s breaths. He almost calmed down enough until he tried to scratch at his throat, feeling the collar that he forgot about. Peter's lungs freeze, causing him to cough and scratch at his throat under the collar in panic. He starts tugging at it frantically, panic taking over his brain. “Wait, Peter you shouldn’t-” Wanda starts to say, getting up quickly with wide eyes. Before she got to finish her warning, Peter is falling off his new bed and struggling on the ground; white hot pain lacing through his body, similar to the pain from the taser when he was first captured. This time, the pain originated from his throat; it felt like he had swallowed lava and his esophagus had collapsed. He was shaking on the ground, gasping, by the time the shocks stopped. Peter finally let his tears flow, unable to lend any strength in order to keep them at bay. A silent sob escaped his throat as a voice from an overhead PA system said, “Inmate 13129: Do not attempt to remove the security collar. This is warning number one.” The inhuman way the message made Peter want to crawl under his bed and never come out. Peter can vaguely hear Clint cursing out the guards but couldn’t pay attention to anything except calming himself down. “It’s okay, Peter.” Wanda was trying to talk gently to him, now crouching up against the clear wall. “Peter, mališa, try to breath.” She spoke softly to him, shushing him lightly when his sobs hiccuped. Peter gradually calmed enough, realizing how tired he was and how much his head hurt after crying so much. He shakily got up enough to drag himself onto the bed and pulled the sheet over himself. There was talking around him, quiet and harsh whispers, but Peter could only focus on Wanda’s soothing voice. She had started whispering him a lullaby, not sure if his brain was too boggled because of his migraine or because it was in a different language. Peter didn’t really care, falling asleep surprisingly fast. Before drifting into a deep sleep, Peter heard a part of the soft lullaby from Wanda was singing; “Спи, младенец мой прекрасный... (Spi, mladenets moy prekrasnyy)…”.


	2. Chapter 2

Ned came back from his bathroom trip with a smile on his face and his eyes looking down at his phone, replying to his friend’s group chat. Since MJ has joined the ‘Spidey Fan Club’, the movie nights have been a little bit more interesting. The three teens (plus May) provide a constant commentary during the movie, no matter what genre. It also makes school more enjoyable; while Peter and Ned were best buds and did just fine hanging with each other, having MJ there really balanced each other out. It was almost like they were all destined to be best friends. 

Looking away from his phone when he heard a commotion in front of him, he saw a group of action-suited soldiers and a single suited man; the outfits had the S.H.I.E.L.D logo. Looking around the crowd, he could see a kid being dragged off. Ned looks closer and notices the nerdy shirt and worn shoes; it was Peter. Ned, breaking from his frozen state of mind, starts towards the group -- who have already reached the front doors of the school. “Hey! HEY!”, Ned is calling out. “PETER!”

Peter is shoved into a dark van by the time Ned reaches the school entrance. Ned’s hands are shaking, his chest heaving from the quick sprint. He watches as the van drives away and feels his eyes sting with anticipation for tears. He quickly brings up his phone and slowly types out a message to their groupchat, his hands not stopping their tremors. He knows his text is only going to cause chaos for MJ and May but they need to know; they need to be ready in order to plan for Peter’s safe return. The text sends as he moves back into the school, fists curled in anger; it reads, “no movie night. peter is in trouble. we need a plan.”

\---

Clint could feel the vibrations of the elevator doors opening and the familiar footsteps of the guards. Can’t an imprisoned man meditate in peace? He opens one eye to see what’s happening and only fully opens his eyes when he spots the new inmate. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion and tightly wound anger, he sees the man -- no, KID -- being shoved into his new ‘home away from home’. He didn’t look any older than 13. God, are they putting middle-schoolers in this shithole now? Clint even states this outloud, his shock and anger ruining any chance of him going back to his meditation. 

Everyone was paying attention to their new guest now; Wanda sitting up from trying to stare a hole into the ceiling; Scott fully focused after zonking out for a solid 40 minutes; Sam up and trying to get the poor, dazed and possibly drugged kid to respond to his questions. The kid finally responds in a small, pubescent voice that tugged at all their heartstrings considering the place he was in. “I’m as okay as I can be in prison…” The kid paused. “I’m just kind of nauseous from the vibranium cuffs and-” The kid tenses up and doesn’t finish his sentence, though everyone could understand where it was going. Scott pipes up, “Hey, I’ve heard your voice before…” He thinks hard, trying to remember where he heard his voice before. Finally, after a brief memory from the fight that put him in his cell, he recalls why the kid’s voice was so familiar. “Hey! You’re that spandex kid from our fight against Iron Man!” Scott would have congratulated himself if he didn’t notice the tension in his shoulders spike just a little bit more. Before he could say anything else, Clint speaks, “Wait, how did you get in here? You’re on Tin Can’s side, aren’t you?” 

The kid shifts uncomfortably, squinting towards Clint’s direction. “Uh.. yeah. Sorry about that.” The kid responds, trying for a smile but it falls more in the category of a grimace, flinching at an invisible pain. After Peter explains how he got shoved into his new cell and home, mortgage being his life, the silence surrounds the ex-avengers. 

Falcon finally speaks up after a while, asking the kid for his name again after introducing everyone. Towards the end, the kid finally graces them with a tiny, but real, smile and tries -- but fails -- to discreetly wipe his eyes. “I’m Peter…” comes out of the kid in a quiet, strained voice. 

Scott continues the Q&A by asking Peter’s age. Peter seems to be uncomfortable but answers the question anyway. Quickly, after a brief silence, Peter’s posture changes; his eyes widening and his chest starts heaving. The adults quickly notice, Sam trying to take action. The kid almost seemed like he was coming down from his panic until he touched his vibranium collar. This causes Peter to immediately freak out, his breaths coming rapidly. Wanda tried to warn the poor kid but it was too late. Peter’s actions already led to a punishment that Wanda knew all too well.

Clint was now standing, his hands clenched into fists as he shouts into the empty hallway. Sam was still up against his clear wall, one hand pressed against the cool glass and the other clenched in a white-knuckled fist at his side. Scott also stood up and unravelled himself from his bed, up against his glass wall and looking towards Wanda and Peter in concern. Wanda is crouched against her own barrier, trying to get as close to Peter as she can. She can only hope that her voice can reach him and bring him some comfort; the lullaby was sung to her as a kid, bringing with it her own sense of peace and nostalgia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOPSIE HAHA,, uuuh so I didn't expect my break to be so long so sorry. Also, not sure if another update is going to be coming for a while (just know there will be one!). I'm currently an 'Essential Worker' and I've been working almost full time (six days a week). Also, I live in America in one of the WORST states for police brutality. I've been trying to plan for protests and supporting the BLM; i've been so drained lately.   
> Anyways, hope you enjoyed this update! Comment if you want; the comments literally make my day even if they are critiques. :) Stay safe out their and fuck the police! ACAB

**Author's Note:**

> I tried doing a mix of southeast slavic languages like crotian, serbian, russian, etc. but i’m not fluent at all and i know no one who speaks any slavic languages so i’m pulling all of this out of my ass LMAO. Since sokovia isn’t really a ‘thing’ and in the movies they have used ukrainian, russian, and serbian words and phrases, I decided that Wanda could speak in several forms of southeast slavic languages. In european countries, a lot of languages kind of merge like that so I just took free reign basically. The word Wanda calls Peter, “mališa” means ‘little one’ in an endearing and loving way. I believe this is used in serbian, croatian, and ukranian (?) but might have some different spellings in those languages.The last bit where Wanda sang to Peter was from a famous russian lullaby Cossak Lullaby and the part translates into “Sleep, my little one, be peaceful” or “Sleep, good boy, my beautiful ''. I deeply apologize if anyone is slavic reading this and i've completely butchered your beautiful languages. If something is wrong with the translations or anything, let me know and i’ll change it. Thank you!


End file.
